So sue you Yahoo!
Sega, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts are suing Yahoo!, the web portal, for allegedly allowing the sale of pirated games on its auction site. Nintendo's lawyer, Richard Flamm, said: "We have advised Yahoo! many times that easily identifiable counterfeit, unpublished and illegal goods are being sold on its site, and we have asked them to implement effective controls to prevent the posting of illegal goods. Yet while it has the responsibility and capability, it has refused to do this."
Cheques and balances
Sony is going into the online banking business with its new PlayStation2 game console. Sony will offer the service in Japan in conjunction with Sakura Bank Ltd and US-based investment bank, JP Morgan and Co. Sony is contributing $284m or 80% of the bank's $356m start-up capital. Last week, Sakura Bank also announced plans for online banking services accessible via mobile phones supplied by Japan's biggest mobile phone company, NTT DoCoMo.
Lara puts Posh in the shade
Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft has beaten Posh Spice and Andrea Corr to win the Female Sunglasses Wearer of the Year competition. The award was collected by the current official Lara lookalike, American model Lara Weller, and the event will be featured in Hello! magazine, which sponsored the competition.
Lord British moves on
"Lord British", otherwise known as Richard Garriott, has left Origin, the games company he co-founded with his brother about 15 years ago. It's not clear why he left, but Origin has just "adjusted" its workforce by getting rid of 20 staff, and Origin's latest and greatest product, Ultima IX: Ascension, has had problems. Gameswatch's reviewer couldn't even get it to run. Origin became famous for its Wing Commander and Ultima series, and was taken over by the largest independent games company, Electronic Arts. Ultima Online has about 165,000 subscribers.
Allegiance
Microsoft has announced the start of a "server spawn" programme for Allegiance, its next multiplayer space combat game. Usually publishers sell or give away the client (PC) versions of multiplayer games and may charge users to access their servers. However, Microsoft is giving a server version away with the retail game for users who don't want to pay up to $10 a month to use the MSN Gaming Zone. Free-play servers will also be listed automatically on Microsoft's Allegiance site.
Infogrames up
The claimed slowdown in the games business hasn't hurt France's Infogrames too badly. In the second half of 1999, it increased its turnover by 65% to Euro 276.8m (£167m), and its profits by 81% to Euro 18.1m (£11m).
My other car is a Corgi
Electronic Arts says it has signed a unique cross promotion deal with film company Buena Vista International, a Disney subsidiary. The forthcoming BVI blockbuster Gone In 60 Seconds (Nick Cage, Vinnie Jones) will promote EA's Need for Speed: Porsche 2000 game, while the game will promote the film. This is especially good news for the Porsche 911 GT3, which gets promoted by both. Unfortunately, the average game player probably isn't old enough to drive one, and couldn't afford the insurance if he was.
